MDMK stages protest, urges govt to implement RTE

Members of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam staged a protest in Sulur on Friday urging the State Government to implement in full the provisions of the Right to Education Act after making the necessary changes.

A release from the party said that the Government must issue a new Government Order replacing the existing one so that the intended beneficiaries get the benefit from the RTE Act, bring about a single window system of admission under the RTE Act. It said that the Maharashtra Government had implemented an online admission system.

The party through the information obtained under the Right to Information Act had clearly established that 90 per cent of the 2,163 students who were admitted under the RTE Act were not as per law. Across the State, 19,971 students were admitted under the RTE Act. It had also established that due to the deficiencies in admitting students under the Act, the real beneficiaries – students from families from economically weaker section – had not benefitted.

The party then sent the information to the State School Education Minister, the head of the State Commission for the Protection of Child Rights, the district administration and also the Chief Education Officer, Coimbatore. It had also sent a representation to the State School Education Minister that the Government Order issued for admission of students under the RTE Act (GO 60) was not clear and proper and that it ought to be changed.

But, there had been no response from the recipients of the letter and complaints.

The Government ought to have paid to the schools the tuition fee of the students admitted under the RTE Act by September last year. But to date the Government had not disbursed the money. This was because the Government was yet to determine the school-wise fee, the release said and pointed out that Karnataka had allocated Rs. 45 crore for the purpose. The inaction on the part of the Government was condemnable and it was to highlight this that the party had staged a protest, the release said.